The Ten Commandments set Judaism apart from all other
religions on earth. This is not because
the commandments are ground-breaking moral and ethical rules, most of them
would be agreed upon by most societies.
What makes them different is that the entire nation heard the voice of
God giving them. No other religion makes such a claim to mass revelation. They begin with God's claim on the people, He
brought them out of Egypt, out of slavery.
The next few sentences are an oath of fealty to Him for what He has
done, they will have no other gods before Him, they will make no idols before
which they can bow down, they will not take His Name in vain and they will keep
a holy Sabbath. Most gods were
represented in some way or other but Yahweh already has a representation, the
reason Jesus says that the second great commandment is "like unto"
the first. We ourselves are image
bearers, and He will, in Jesus come to reveal the image of God clearly and
completely to us. The commandments vis a
vis our neighbors are sad reminders of the fall. That we have to be told not to murder, steal,
bear false witness, and commit adultery tells us how far we have fallen. The final commandment, do not covet, is the
one that always stands as a witness against us and reveals the depth of
depravity, we are ultimately failures at keeping the law, we can't control the heart. There had better be a way to get forgiveness. At this, they had heard enough and deputized
Moses to hear whatever else the Lord had to say, lest we die. Where have I heard those last three words
before?
There are two sides to knowing Scripture, what does it say
and when to apply it. We can know the
words of Scripture, quote it and impress our friends and family but the more
important thing about knowing the Word of God is when to apply it to life. Jesus not only quotes it here, He uses the
Word of God to defeat temptation. Surely
after forty days of fasting He craved food, but was unwilling to act in His own
behalf to do anything to alleviate His hunger without the Father prompting Him. He was able, in all three temptations, to
cite Scripture to defeat satan's entreaties.
In the second temptation satan tries to use Scripture himself, doesn’t
the Word of God say this? Jesus was more
prepared than Eve and was able to resist.
Satan came when Jesus was weak, he also came when Jesus was strong, like
when 5000 people were following after Him, waiting for Him to feed them again,
that they might make Him king. There too
Jesus defeated temptation. We must
always be on the lookout, not just when we are weak but at least as much when
we are on top.
Paul was more willing to suffer for the sake of the Gospel
than any other man but Jesus in the New Testament. He endured all things for the sake of Jesus
and the church. He was an amazing man
who showed the way of love for God and neighbor for us all. He was willing to be reviled, beaten,
imprisoned, and stoned to preach the Gospel and no matter what they threw at
him, he kept on preaching. His
sufferings were a badge of honor to him as they proved his love for Jesus and
the church. For their sake he was
willing to be as nothing at all in the world.
His motive was for people to hear the Good News and grow into mature
Christians, mature image bearers of God so that the Gospel would endure. He knew the church was a work of the Holy
Spirit but he also knew that his job was to work like everything depended on
him. Do we have the mind of Paul?
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